Tillfällighet eller trend:

En tolkning av närrörelser i Finland

Authors

• Krister Ståhlberg

Abstract

The last decade has seen a number of neighbourhood and protest movements in Finland, as has been the case elsewhere. A distinction is made between local and national movements and between occasional and relatively permanent movements. These are generally characterized and a general interpretative argument is advanced to the effect that these movements represent a trend rather than a coincidence in our political system. The general societal development is interpreted in the light of trends that seem to increase the distance between the elite and the masses; the movements are seen as functional alternatives to those articulation channels that have been overloaded or overly protected. At the same time a number of arguments to the effect that these movements are only occasional are refuted. Finally some views are offered on what type of questions ought to be placed on the public agenda in order to informally co-opt the movements and in order to counter their potential in causing a deeper crisis of legitimacy in the Finnish political system.